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Journey to Dreamtime
The professor takes Sophie, Dylan and their two pets Monty and Naomi on a wild adventure I’ve been writing this blog for a few years now, in addition with my wonderful co-host Ann we have been interviewing the fascinating people we find for our podcast www.growingtrends.org
Last year I was asked if we might develop a learning aid for children based on how we grow food, develop sustainable approaches to agriculture and cope with modern city life. I agreed because I felt we do need to help this planet of ours every so often.
After much thinking coupled with the odd glass of wine – I’m fairly partial to a nice burgundy. This along with late night chats with friends and my lovely wife the small light bulb ( well it has to be an LED these days) began to flicker.
“Why not make the learning an adventure story?”
Journey to Dreamtime was born, currently available as an eBook it will soon be available as a paperback, you can see more here…www.journeytodreamtime.com
Now available in a paperback, you can order either on Amazon or from BookLocker
Please do let me know what you think…. book two is going to be based in America.
Thank you.
Views: 50
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Grandy’s Long walk – The Bibbulmun Track, Western Australia
Ann and I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Stanley after she had completed this 1000km walk.
Linda undertook this walk on her own, it took the best part of 8 weeks to complete and more than three months to prepare for.
Linda isn’t your average walker by any means, she suffered some serious injuries breaking her back in an accident. Being a somewhat determined lady she set about challenging herself to literally get back on her feet again.
We interviewed Linda in her new home, a beautiful chestnut farm in Nannup, Western Australia just after the launch of the children’s book she wrote about her journey.
‘Grandy’s Long Walk’ is written for young children, superbly illustrated about her walk.
Linda wrote the book out of a concern that children today spending less and less time with nature and more and more time in front of the small screen. She hopes to encourage more children to get outside and discover the same senses of wonder and joy of nature that she had experienced on her long walk in the forest.
You can listen to her telling us all about this amazing journey below.
We were so curious about this really long walk that during our research we found some youtube videos of other people who travel from all over the world to walk this track.
Darren is one such person, he created a video and kindly gave us permission to include it in this article. His video is just a part of the walk, you can view it here Bibbulmun track video Darren is raising money for Diabetes you can see his web site here Darren’s website
There is also a specialist web site filled with information for those who want to plan their own walk..The BIbbulman Track
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Views: 74
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Growing Trends interviews Bill Sosinsky on his recent trip to China
Hello everyone, we hope you like our new logo ?
We have some great interviews planned for the next few months.
Our first is with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years.
Cities of 5 – 10 million people built in under 10 years !
This type of growth brings staggering infrastructure issues or as Bill says ” This is a big deal !”
The interview is one of those must listen to events… we all have seen or heard of the Great Wall of China, a quite amazing feat of building, as seen here.
I wonder how many of us can comprehend the current building program?
100 million homes in the next 5- 10 years…!
That’s almost one third of the total housing in the USA
Truly a monumental task of ingenuity, engineering and collaboration, Ann and I were just amazed talking to Bill about the growing issues they are trying to solve.
We will have two parts to this fascinating interview you can listen to the first part here….
We would love to hear from you with ideas or suggestions on programs, either fill in the form below or just send us an email to info@grotrends.com
Ann & Chris
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Views: 102
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Trends in European Garden Centers
Ann is in Paris, France talking to Valerie Langendorff, President of a Women’s Garden Executive Club.
Valerie looks at Garden Centers from the ladies perspective in France, her ladies group have identified a number of interesting trends..Women make 70% of the purchase decisions.
Currently 90% of Garden Centers are managed by men.
They have developed an annual awards program judged by women.Ladies nights are arranged in the Garden Center
They have an award for the most women friendly Garden Center.
They have discovered that women like innovation more than men..
You can listen to this fascinating interview here or on iTunes
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Views: 84
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If I were opening a Garden center today
Garden Centers have evolved over the years, there are Independent Garden Centers often in a local neighborhood, there are larger groups with multiple locations.
Many of the big box ‘Do it Yourself stores’ have larger and larger ‘Garden Center’ sections.
The question recently has been where are they all heading.
So Ann asked Sid & John – “If I were to open a Garden Center today what would be your recommendations?”
Sid Raisch
CEO of Horticultural Advantage (www.AdvantageDevelopmentSystem.com) , providing business expertise and extensive leadership training to small to medium horticultural businesses, primarily retail garden centers and selected wholesale suppliers.
John Stanley.
International retail guru is what people call me. Specialising in helping retail businesses to grow their bottom line and expand their market base. I work in 26 countries with retailers of all sizes. My expertise ranges from conference speaking to hands on management consultancy. My specialist retail areas are in perishable retailing – anything that will not last long without loving care on the shelf
Sid and John discuss future trends for gardens, garden centers, and our urban environment.
This fascinating , very informative interview is going to have you thinking.
Send us your thoughts to Growing Trends
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Views: 100
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Ann visits the Chelsea Physic garden
It’s not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673 as The Apothecaries’ Garden
Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden on the side of the river Thames in London.
The garden’s purpose was to train apprentices in identifying plants. The gardens’ location close to the river created a warmer microclimate, significantly increasing the many non-native plants that could be grown.
In 1700 the garden had started an international botanical garden seed exchange system, which continues to this day.
The gardens cover some four acres and are leased on what is known as a peppercorn rent in perpetuity.
They are without doubt one of London’s secret ‘gems’ and thoroughly worth a visit.
The garden’s mission ” Linking people with plants and nature”
The interview starts with Ann talking for around 8 minutes to a group of school children on a field trip, the gardens have over 100 such visits a year. Ann then talks to Michael a very knowledgeable and extremely helpful member of staff. We kept all the typical inner city sounds on the recording – the enthusiasm of the children is very heartening.
Integrated pest management is the preferred method of bug control…
They have a project called “Shelf Life’ it is just an incredible way to show children where their food comes from
You can also listen to Ann’s interview on iTunes at Growing Trends
We would love to hear your comments and suggestions for a show… just send us an email to Growing Trends
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Views: 88
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Growing Trends : How we look at Food Tourism today
Ann and I interviewed John Stanley of John Stanley Associates recently about his new book, he jointly wrote with his wife Linda,
Food Tourism – A Practical Marketing Guide.
The fastest growth in tourism today is the culinary sector.
Listen to John as he explains the overall direction of food tourism, including how he sees future development.
A few snip bits:
Do you grow soil?
25% of the food we buy comes from 2% of the farmland around our cities, which is being swallowed up by development.
Farmers used to make 38 cents on every dollar now its down to an average of just 6 cents
Eating local seasonal food saves you around 25%, and is actually healthier for you!
You can hear this really informative interview here (click below) or on iTunes at Growing Trends
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Views: 49
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Heaven is a Garden – Jan Johnsen
A few years ago I read a paper about how grasses ‘moved’ to music, then I read about the effects of harmonious sounds on plant growth.
Why do I mention this?
Well a few weeks ago we were talking about Tesla and his discoveries, which led us to talking about vibrations, sound waves, force fields etc., then a strange thing happened.
Ann and I interviewed a wonderful lady landscape architect Jan Johnsen, about her new book “Heaven is a Garden” we talked a little about how at a very young age she discovered during a science fair competition – which against all the odds she won – the effects early morning birds singing have on plants. The sound waves, which are similar to a violin stimulate a plant to open its stomata taking in carbon-dioxide to help it grow quicker.
Jan has written a book called Heaven is a Garden, it’s a really fascinating and informative read. Jan has ‘connected’ the dots so as to speak, between the natural world and our emotions. How the Four Winds are important when laying out a space,the careful use of curves, and my favorite Golden Rectangles and the Divine Proportion. – Phi is the mathematical proportion ( 1 : 1.618) we see in every natural form. Using this proportion ensures a sense of harmony in any outdoor space that contains it. I’ve always tried to use these proportions in my designs.
Jan then talks about Trees – natures rechargers as she puts it… The Celts shunnache, the Hindu tree devas, and Greek dryads are really references to light energy? The Chinese call this energy chi…the Japanese consider the health giving properties of trees the basis of a medical therapy called ‘ Forest bathing’, it helps reduce stress.
Jan then discusses the magnetic attraction in a Zen garden – rocks in these gardens reflect a deep understanding of the geomagnetic properties of stone and its impact on a place.
Finally the benefits of color in a garden.
You can listen to our truly fascinating interview with Jan Johnsen or if you prefer on iTunes at Growing Trends or just click on the arrow below to start the interviewWe would love to hear from you if you like this interview
Ann and Chris,
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Views: 139
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The Growing Potential for Algae Part Two
When we started this latest series of interviews with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet we soon realised how important Algae is to life on our planet.
We never realised how interesting or how much interest these interviews would generate.
Here’s the second part, it’s fascinating, informative and what the future holds for us all.
Have a listen then drop us a line with your thoughts we would love to hear from you.
You can hear our latest interview here – just click on the bar below or on iTunes at Growing Trends
We would love to hear from you with ideas and suggestions, just drop us a line at info@growtrends.com
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Views: 115
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Growing Potential for Algae – Part one
Our interview this week is with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet, it’s all about the amazing properties of algae and the work being done today that could transform many areas of our lives. This fascinating interview is in two parts, with the second part coming next week.
Algae has some fascinating uses :-
As an Energy Source – a 737 plane flew from Houston to Chicago on fuel derived from algae, way back in 2011
As a Fertilizer – from as long ago as the 16th century, seaweed has been used a fertilizer.
As a source of Nutrition – China has been consuming Algae for over 2000 years, they harvest over 70 species as does Japan, Ireland, Chile, Wales,Korea, California, New Zealand, Hawaii, Scotland, Greenland and Iceland to name a few. It was an ingredient in Aztec foods.
Oils obtained from some algae have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids,others essential omega 3 fatty acids.
As a Pollution control – treating sewage with algae, reducing the use of toxic chemicals that would be used. They can absorb fertilizer run off from fields. Aquariums can be filtered by algae
As a Pigment – alternative to chemical dyes
As a Medicine – helping fight malnutrition, immune health, reducing cholesterol
Amazingly there could be more than 72000 algae species worldwide.
You can hear our interview with Bill Sosinsky and Joe Ravet on iTunes at Growing Trends or here on our podcast just click below to hear
We would love to hear from you,
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Views: 59
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Eating fresh local food
Here in the USA its Spring, time to think about fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs. It’s even more important this year with the continuing drought in California where a lot of the countries fresh produce is grown as they now have a mandatory 25% reduction in water use.
If you are growing at home one of the most effective methods that has passed the passage of time is Mel Bartholomew’s – Square Foot Gardening method – Ann and I will be interviewing Mel very soon.
Before we do, Ann and I were privileged to interview Nellie, she is a young mother who is passionate about eating fresh produce on a low budget.
Our interview is inspiring for those who want to find the best way to eat fresh local food. Nellie explains how to balance your budget and yet find good healthy fresh food.
This is one very astute young lady, who is passionate about food – her mum tells me,she is also a great cook..
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Views: 49
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Country: Growing Trends -Small is beautiful in modern energy production
Ann & Chris continue their talk with Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky, starting with windmills and wind turbines.
Rich is a believer in ‘Small is beautiful’ – the idea of making incremental savings of say 25% with smaller units being preferable to building huge systems that may or may not work.
Most of the savings will come as we discover more efficient energy storage and they have been exploring some interesting options.
We then move on to hydrogen power, thorium, Tesla and so much more. It’s fascinating to listen to the bright picture they paint for future generations..
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Views: 65
